Pages

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Blooming in the Rain!

After the extensive flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces due to the Southwest Monsoon aggravated by the typhoon in South China, we fortunately had 3 days of sun, and the streets got dry. However, most of the flooded areas are still flooded, families have not yet returned because waters are still high. The soils are very saturated still and can't yet drink the rains coming again. This time it is a typhoon, a real one. It hits the top north part of the country but we in other parts of the country especially Metro Manila still gets too much rain again. Evacuees who left the makeshift evacuation centers to clean their homes returned for fear of another flood coming in. Oh My God, what is happening. But to all my blogger friends, please don't worry about me and my family, we are safe and not flooded!

But rain or shine, typhoon or flood, bloggers don't forget the Garden Bloggers bloom day! I haven't been home to our property in the province for the last two weeks, so i will be posting what I have here before I left.

The gardens after the dry season has not been fully recovered, but the bulbs are one of the firsts to send out leaves. I used the plastic water scoop for this variety purposely because it contains little soil to control its growth. I love them with stunted short petioles and smaller leaves. I love it this way. I have other caladium varieties, which i posted earlier than this.

The Turnera subulata is planted near the wire fence to keep it upright and well supported on one side. Without that support it grows wide fast.

The yellow Ixora is also loved by the butterflies, we have plenty of the red ones both the I javanica and the I coccinea, and the appearance of the yellow is a nice welcome.

The ever faithful Duranta erecta never fails to amaze me and the butterflies, dry or wet, rain or shine! But now it already suffered a big pruning, so it will produce better blooms while the rains are still available. The butterflies have to make do with other flowers before their favorite Duranta gets blooming again.

Catharanthus hybrids

Lantana camara

These Petunia flowers suffered from too much rains, see the effects on the petals? Even the stems get so long and lanky and have to be cut.

The above Gaillardia is a migrant trying to acclimatize itself here in my tropical garden conditions. Last dry season it started to bloom but rains are drowning its leaves now, and lots of insects will be killing it. It might not be able to withstand our rainy season. This is from seeds sent by a friend blogger from the US.

This Epiphyllum oxipetalum has been blooming five times this rainy season. This can be the last time as there are no bloom sprouts anymore. I have posted its blooms in a single post last time HERE.

Haha, yes Cher, it seems many like the chickens. We have 3 Ixoras but the two i've just posted recently. This one is the neglected variety so it's her time now! We have 2 Lantana, but the other one might be over exposed to media too, haha!

Once again, feast or famine weather in regards to rain. These extremes are frightening! And they're happening everywhere. Glad that you and your family aren't in danger of flooding out, but hope that others in your country are safe as well.

It's fun to see some of familiar flowers in a different setting! By the way, though, I think your Rudbeckia seed may actually have been Gaillardia seed (another North American native). They're both hardy, drought tolerant plants that grow in similar conditions, so it would be easy to confuse the two.

hahaha, thanks Gaia, actually the first time i posted it i put Gaillardia, then someone said it is Rudbeckia, then when i posted it now i was confused which term is the right one. Do you think it might have shattered some seeds on the ground, so i can watch out for them?

Yes, we also pray for our countrymen who are still in chaos and depravity. But the government and many groups are helping them with necessities, i hope rains will not come in needed areas. If only we can direct them.

There's a lot more blooming in our garden, but it seems redundant to post them again consecutively. The hens are my enemies especially when the seedlings are newly planted, but they are mother's, so let them be!

Thanks for appreciating Karin. Those chickens are most of the time my enemies in the garden because we dont have fences to keep them out. But eating time for free-ranged native chicken comes, and they become so loved, and their eggs too!

I was wondering how you were doing. Haven't heard from you in a bit:) Your plants are gorgeous but Andrea, your butterflies around your place are really really really amazing!!! Everytime you post them, my jaw drops 10 feet! That one you posted today is a stunner. We don't have these varieties here. A remember a post you did last year and I was just floored at the beautiful blues and greens. Stay dry my friend and be safe.

Oh Kreesh, thank you very much for remembering me positively. I hope your jaw will return to normal again after the awe on my butterflies, or else you wont look as handsome again, hahaha! I know our butterflies are beautiful, reasons why temperate countries import them for their butterfly gardens and conservatories. I know of someone who export pupa to US and UK, and here too during celebrations it is a recent trend to release butterflies. And it is a very beautiful event to witness! I've just seen it once. That is a business i want to do, the problem is I can't hold larvae or pupa with bare hands.

I am glad you updated us about the flood situation in your country. Now, we know that you and family are safe which is a big relief. The flower photos offers a delight to the current gloomy weather situation. I am dreaming about your EO blooming 5X! Wow!

The mother plant is actually not mine, but it is as good as mine because it is very near our kitchen's back, and my cousin owns it, i can get cuttings anytime I want. So gather your friends to buy from me, advertise in Malaysia that I am selling EO, hahaha! What percent share do you want? I don't even know what is the price, i will still ask you about that!

We also have a mostly pink Lantana which is in the wild and grows as tall shrubs. In my garden i also have a purely orange variety, i also got from the wild in an island i visited in the Visayas. I transported the cuttings experimentally and they survived.

I love the dripping Epiphyllum oxipetalum, but sadly got an error on the link to see the last blooms. It's so nice to see water in the garden, we're in the heart of our dry season in San Francisco. I am in love with the duranta and the caladium, neither of which I know anything about. How big does the duranta get?

Thanks for dropping by Lazy Composter.I will check the link after this. Duranta is amenable to constant pruning, so you can always cut it depending on what look you want it to get. I cut mine every year to produce more shoots and branches whenever i see that the berries are already mature. Cutting branches while still immature might kill the plant though. Ours is about 8 ft tall, because i want the slender branches fall on the sides for the butterflies.

Andrea it took me a couple of moments to realize who you were when I read your comment on my blog:) The caladium is lovely. I'm looking for one I can try and grow as a houseplant. Although I'm sure it will take some fussing since the inside of my house is very dry and can be cold in winter.

hahaha, I know my term is a bit exotic which is not really a name but a place in our local dialect. I remedied that by putting both Kalantikan/Andrea in my signature so my former blogger friends can readily relate and remember me! Caladiums thrive in wide ranges of temperatures, so I wish you don't experience much difficulty growing it. Thanks.

Andrea while reading your post I realized how fortunate we are in Toronto, Canada.Flooding like you and your family must endure we don't get here.I hope you can return soon to your home and garden.Thank you for posting your lovely flower pictures.

Oh i might have misinformed you in my post, but I and my family are not affected at all by the floods in Metro Manila that you might have also seen in the news. I actually reassured my blogger friends that we are fine, it is only our countrymen who are still suffering now! Thanks for the concern and positive thoughts.

Oh I am loving your gorgeous flowers...so beautiful...that is definitely a gaillardia and I have it blooming now in the garden...it should hold up to your rain and heat...I love it...glad you are all safe with all that rain.

Thanks Donna for reinforcing Gaia's comment that it is a Gaillardia, i will correct it now. I hope it does hold on as it traveled a long way from the US just to experience our conditions, and if it seeded then that will already be acclimatized here. However, i see that it is very susceptible to mealy bugs and aphids, and for absentee gardener like me, that is a problem.

You have beautiful flowers and plants and you are so good in naming them. Me? I never remember the names and no, I do not know the name of the one growing near the pool deck with yellow flowers. We live in Natchez, MS and not TX. We have to bring in some of the plants in the house and garage when it freezes, which really is not that often here....Christine

Hi Luna, yes chickens don't like rain, but as you can see, this photo is already after the rains. You wont see a Gaillardia here, as i discussed above it is sent by a friend blogger from the US and is still acclimatizing in our tropical conditions. Thanks for the visit.

Thank you very much Denise, certainly appreciate it. It has been sunny for a few days with occasional drizzles, but some low-lying areas are still flooded. Unfortunately, typhoons are always coming sending us more rains.

Your visits and comments are the life of this site. I certainly appreciate them and I will make sure to return the favor. Energies are not destroyed, they are just transformed, so healthy energies be with us all, just like the breath of life!

But i am requesting that no other personal links should be put on your comments. I am sorry, but backlinks give me some problems, so i might not publish them.Thank you very much for understanding.

About Me

I am passionate with Oxygen Generators: plants, trees, shrubs, grasses, ornamentals, flowers, lower plants and microorganisms that produce oxygen, the most important element to maintain life. This led me to be a Horticulturist-Plant Physiologist.
Kalantikan is a long ridge in our place, where we see the expanse of vegetation to the mountains while overlooking the islands and the bay. And you already know me at my other site, Andrea in this Lifetime. Email: kalantikan@gmail.com